Coffee producing machines are becoming increasingly popular and widely used household appliances.
These machines are commonly used for the preparation of various kinds of coffee-based beverages, such as espresso coffee, fresh brew coffee (American coffee), cappuccino, “lattemacchiato” and so on. Depending upon the kind of beverage and wishes of the user, the beverage is collected in a smaller or larger container, such as an espresso cup, a large tea or coffee cup or the like. In order to allow the use of containers of widely differing height, machines have been developed which provide for means to adapt the distance between a cup resting or supporting surface and a beverage dispensing nozzle. U.S. Pat. No. 7,654,192 discloses a coffee machine having a vertically adjustable and lockable outflow unit, provided with a rather complex mechanism, to adjust the distance between beverage dispensing nozzle and a cup supporting surface.
EP-A-1639926 discloses a coffee producing machine provided with a beverage dispensing nozzle arranged in a fixed position and a cup supporting surface underneath, which can be adjusted such that the distance between the supporting surface and the beverage dispensing nozzle is adapted to the dimension of the cup or other container arranged under the beverage dispensing nozzle. Also in this case the adjusting mechanism is rather complex and expensive.
Moreover, the means to adjust the distance between the beverage dispensing nozzle and the cup supporting surface of these known machines are cumbersome and requires a rather large housing.